Marrowbone (2 Stars)

This is the 11th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

In 1969 the Fairbearn family emigrates to America from England. Rose Fairbearn's four children are Jack (20), Jane (19), Billy (18) and Sam (5). On moving into their house she changes the family name to Marrowbone to make a new start. Soon afterwards she falls sick and dies. Before dying she tells Jack that he has to keep her death secret until he's 21, otherwise he will lose the house. The children bury their mother in the garden and pretend that she's still alive.

A mystery unravels about the family's past and a ghost living in the attic.

First of all the film's positive features. The cinematography is excellent and gives the film a polished professional look that none of the previous films in the festival had. It looks and feels like a big budget Hollywood production. The acting by the young cast is also excellent.

The problems are with the story. For most of the film the mystery about the family's past is dangled in front of us, but I found it very dissatisfying. Mysteries are good, but I like mysteries where characters in the film are searching for the truth and the audience follows their search. In the case of "Marrowbone" the children all know exactly what happened in the past, it's just a mystery for the audience. I was impatient to find out what it was.

When the mystery is finally revealed to the audience there's a plot twist that's equally dissatisfying. I can't tell you what it is because I don't want to give away spoilers. All I'll say is that I was ready to give the film a three star rating, but after the plot twist I dropped it to two.